no A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



has some leaves in 3's ; Blue Cohosh, No. 344, has 2 com- 

 pound leaves ; Spring Beauty, No. 315, has opposite, alternate 

 and basal leaves. 



About 80 alternate leaved herbs are to be considered here, 

 of which the major differences can be set down thus : 



Petals or petal-like sepals 4, or less than 4 no. ■t;/'] 



Petals or petal-like sepals 5, or more than 5 

 Leaves compound, or deeply divided, or cut (except in a butter- 

 cup No. 351) no. 336 



Leaves not compound, or deeply divided, or cut (Exceptions in 

 Modesty, no. 324, and Musk-mallow, no. 326) 



Flowers yellow no. 328 



Flowers of other colors 



Stamens united to form a tube (See Fig. 323) 



Mallows no. 321 



Stamens separated 



Plants 4-8 ft. high Pokeweed no. 320 



Plants 3-15 in. high. 



Flowers blue Flax no. 319 



Flowers not blue 



Sepals 5, united ; petals 5 Stonecrop no. 316 



Sepals 2, free; petals 5 Spring Beauty no. 315 



315. SPRING BEAUTY. CLAYTONIA. 



Low perennial smooth herbs with alternate, or opposite, or 

 basal leaves, stalked or stalkless. Flowers in a terminal sparse 

 cluster, consisting of usually not more than 3-7 flowers. 

 Sepals 2, petals 5, whitish or pinkish, and veined. Fruit an 

 oval or round capsule. (Portitlacaceae.) See No. 331. The 

 commonest species is 



Spring Beauty. Claytonia virginica. Not over 8 in. tall, 

 usually weak, and quickly wilting when picked. Basal leaf 

 (often missing) from a deep tuberous root, three times 

 as long as the usually opposite stem leaves which are 1-4 in. 

 long ; all strap-shaped and without teeth. Flower about ^ in. 

 wide, with pinkish veins ; slightly notched. Moist woods or 

 swamps. Nova Scotia to Georgia, and westward. April. Fig. 

 315. A related species with broader leaves, C. caroUniana, is 

 found mostly in the mountains from Nova Scotia to So. 

 Carolina and westward. 



